Using curvier models in advertisements may be on its way to becoming more than a gimmick. A study shows female consumers are more likely to buy something when an ad, or magazine fashion spread, features a model who is more reflective of them.

Ben Barry, a PhD student at Cambridge University, used fake ads when he surveyed 3,000 women in the UK, US and Canada, “and the vast majority of women significantly increase purchase intentions when they see a model that reflects their age, size and race.”

Unfortunately, as we all know, and Barry himself said, the “industry operates in its own bubble.”

His advice? “Advertisers and magazine editors need to be mindful of who their target market is and how the models reflect that market, catch up and change.”

But Barry’s hopeful. He believes companies will make the change once they start to see the economic benefits of using a more diverse range of women to sell their products. SOURCE